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Amid sleet, snow, and a biting wind off the banks of the Humber Estuary, alongside a resolute home side fighting for a top-flight place, this presented all the ingredients of a challenging night's task for the visitors.

"We could have added to our tally but the opposition are a strong team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the display," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good reception from the fans of fans. The application of the players was excellent."

The Rosenior holds this place close to his heart, considering some of his family hail from Hull and his successful spell in charge of the Championship club. His happy connection continued with a commanding display from his squad, who in the end sauntered into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Clinical Finishing Secures Comprehensive Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the league, there was a sniff of vulnerability about them going into this intriguing cup clash. The packed home crowd evidently felt it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and maybe should have been settled long before it actually was, with two Estêvão Willian and the forward guilty of spurning excellent chances to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more ruthless frame of mind. He broke the scoring with a spectacular distance effort, which proved to be the catalyst for his team to assume control of the match. By the final whistle, they had four, with the forward netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Response and Influence

The home side showed great fight all game, but the clearer chances consistently fell Chelsea’s way. Estêvão should have broken the scoring when he rounded goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably firing over. The striker then had a similar nightmare incident in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a Phillips's kick which came back from the bar, and Delap started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had reacted to avert the threat.

Delap had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was immensely instrumental from there on out, providing three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his pass teed up his teammate to score from range. Shortly after the second half began, it was 2-0 as Neto's set-piece went directly in through Phillips's legs.

Contest Sealed and Focus Shifts

Soon after the second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an empty net. The hat-trick hero then finished his hat-trick as Delap again played the decisive pass for the striker to coolly convert by a stranded Phillips.

By that stage, the effort Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had been forgotten. Their priority must now return to achieving a return to the Premier League under Sergej Jakirovic, who left out several key individuals with that aim in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a strong situation in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the next matches this can be a good example of how we must play."

There was great effort to the end, and they nearly got a late goal when Lewis Koumas struck a post in injury time. But this was Chelsea’s evening, and another encouraging stride for their recently-appointed manager at a stadium he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Promising

The result resulted in an ultimately routine night's performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for Chelsea. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the past ten years and on each occasion, they have gone on to reach the showpiece. There is still work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.